Thanksgiving and Christmas Celebrations during Covid

RN0441

100% better than I was but not at 100% yet
What is everyone doing for the holidays?

The three of us (husband, formerly Difficult Child and myself) are going to a nice restaurant for Thanksgiving dinner. They have all the fixings so we figured why cook all that for three people. No family here/coming this year. Maybe take a trip to walk on the beach too if the weather is as good as it has been.

We are flying to Chicago December 17 for four nights to visit our boys. Will be staying at a hotel so will probably have dinners at their homes since it looks like everything will be shut down.

We will spend the actual Christmas holiday at home. The three of us.

We have flown twice since Covid for pleasure and husband is starting to fly a bit for work. It feels very safe. Masks in the airports and on all flights.

Since we moved away from our hometown, even without Covid, things would probably be the same as they are now.

I do hope that 2021 brings more hope and peace for us all!!
 

newstart

Well-Known Member
RN, Glad you will get to see your other boys in Dec.
We are having a quiet Thanksgiving at my house. This will be the first Thanksgiving at home for a long time. In the past we would spend it with my mom and then get on a cruise. Sometimes we would meet my brother and his wife in the Midwest. We usually have a Thanksgiving meal a week before the actual date then on Thanksgiving.
For Christmas we plan to visit our sweet friend E, his wife just died and he is broken hearted. He lives about 3 hours away. Even though his wife just died he is still wonderful.
E lives out in the country with lots of cats.. I will feel right at home.
 

HMBgal

Well-Known Member
We're traveling by car from the SF Bay Area to Puyallup WA (near Seattle). We do it in one day, use rest stop bathrooms (they're not crowded and basically open-air) and bringing road food with us so we don't even have to go inside anywhere. I can get up there on two tanks of gas, and I can get that outside. My daughter is have an endoscopy and colonoscopy on the same day (the 24th--questionable scheduling, but she's in pain, soooo) I'm bringing the two grandkids that live with me and helping her out with her 4 and 7 year olds (the older one has severe ADHD--he's so much like my previously-difficult grandson). Her husband has severe gout and is kind of basically useless at anything but sitting up in his home office with his foot elevated and doing work stuff. So, we are all very experienced and dedicated mask wearers, hand washers, etc. I've made appointments for the kids and I to get tested after we get home.

I'm no where near figuring out Hannukah/Christmas yet, but we'll be at home, I'm pretty sure.
 

Copabanana

Well-Known Member
Hi everybody

Your plans all sound lovely. Especially travel. I have been reading and hearing that airplanes can be the safest places. Airports? I don't know. I think airplanes are relatively safe because of the air filtration systems. And this industry is so vulnerable now, I think they are taking it all especially seriously.

Thanksgiving will be M, and I. I will cook very simply for two. I have thought about asking my son to come but there would be drama. There always is. He doesn't understand limits. And I overreact. Although things are better because our lives have been disentangled, we remain a volatile mix when we're together or when we have to navigate a problem together. I love him. What more is there to be said?
 
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KTMom91

Well-Known Member
My birthday falls on Thanksgiving this year, and Hubby and I will be going to my mom's here in town for lunch and birthday pie.

Miss KT is flying home for a week in early December so we can celebrate Christmas with her.

No idea what we will be doing on Christmas Eve/Day.
 

RN0441

100% better than I was but not at 100% yet
HMBGal - my husband gets gout when he drinks too much red wine/seafood etc. and he takes a pill that really turns it around within a few hours! Your son in law should see a doctor. It's too painful to "live with".

We flew to Florida a few times and felt very safe. Everyone had masks on entire time in airport and on flights. Very safe in my opinion. Road trips best if you can do it/destination not too far. Agree food on road trips is awful especially now with reduced staff etc. and next time we do it I will make sandwiches and snacks and why take the chance anyway.
 

Nomad

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Hubby and I took a nice two week fall vacation recently. But we drove. I will consider flying in the future. I guess it depends on the circumstances.
For the first time in as long as I can remember...Thanksgiving will likely be just the two of us. Still haven’t decided if I’m cooking or we will go out.
Christmas seems more normal. So far...anyway.
We haven’t seen our daughter in almost a year.
She agreed to get a Covid test prior to flying in for Xmas. We will have our fairly large Xmas breakfast at the big dining table as spread out as possible, instead of the usual cozy breakfast table. I’ll put the grands at their own table. Just to keep a little separation...we will all be seated more apart than typical. But it should be fine....still very pleasant. Just doing the best we can.
 

ksm

Well-Known Member
Our Thanksgiving...the next 4 weeks we will be living in our small camper at a makeshift campsite near Corpus Christi, TX with about 6 other people. During the day we will be volunteering and doing mostly outdoor home repairs, like wheelchair ramps and building decks. And some new home constructions, like painting trims, and doing in finish work.

The group will have a pot luck for Thanksgiving and we have a large enclosed area that we can space out for the meal. For once, I won't have to make 10 to 12 courses for 20+ people.

We will be home tor Christmas but I'm not sure how or if we will do it as a group.

Ksm.
 

MissLulu

Well-Known Member
Hi everyone,

We don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Australia, so I don't have to worry about that one!

Part of me is dreading Christmas. I'm not sure what we're doing yet. I usually see my brother and his family at some point, but I'm not sure if it will be on Christmas Day or Boxing Day. It's likely that we will have a quiet one at home - me, my husband and my two younger sons. No idea whether difficult son will come. He has been with the same girl since March now, so I'm wondering if he will want to be with her family instead. It's awful, but part of me hopes so. Less drama that way. But perhaps her family won't invite him. I know this is probably the wrong attitude but I can't wait for Christmas to be over! It's difficult son's birthday 5 days before Christmas too, so I expect he will turn up here then. He can find time to see us when he thinks there's something in it for him!

RE covid: we are still being very cautious here in my state, even though we have had zero cases in the last two weeks. We did a very strict lockdown and now there's barely any virus in the country and no cases at all in my state. We are not taking this for granted, though. Masks are still mandatory in our state for the moment and the whole country is still on high alert for the virus. We're taking social distancing and hand hygiene seriously, and there are restrictions on crowds gathering etc. We had a big outbreak here (although it was tiny compared to what people have been through in the US and the UK) so the state governments all closed their borders to keep their own citizens safe. As a result we haven't been able to fly interstate for a few months. Now we have the outbreak under control, borders are opening up again. My husband's parents could come for Christmas if they wanted to (they're in another state) but they're in a high risk group so I think they'll probably choose to stay home.

Last Christmas we flew out to Malaysia for a holiday the day after Christmas, and it was wonderful. Oh, how I wish we could do that again this year!
 

BusynMember1

Well-Known Member
We are having a quiet meal both holidays with the kids. Social distancing too. We are not going to fly or travel yet. We are too old to get COVID. My husband has diabetes too. We will all mask up in between meals as we all always do

I will cook with Amy. I know Amy has been very careful and working from home now. No strangers and no other family until COVID is treatable or we are vaccinated. We have neighbors who have died from it and we want more years with the grands ❤️ Our state is very bad with COVID. Airports are hot spots here. Forget it.

Having said that the family plans a Zoom get together on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Those are always so much fun!

We always have fun together so this too will be great in the safest way we can do it.

Blessings to all.
 
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Deni D

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass.
Staff member
I picked up a large chicken pot pie from Cosco today. I'm skipping the traditional Thanksgiving dinner here. There will only be the two of us because my son can't even manage a civil conversation with me and my significant other's children work in restaurants so I see their risk as high. After what happened around here in March I'm just calmly staying out of the way so the essential workers won't have me to be concerned about. Once I saw things were picking up across the country I figured we would be here for the holidays. We will probably do a zoom meeting and play some games.
 

BusynMember1

Well-Known Member
I did want to say I support what people feel is safe for them. However, cautious people like us, please do not feel ashamed of listening to doctors about gatherings this year. Age, risks and just a desire not to get this virus is nothing to be ashamed of. Not traveling now is not a bad thing. Tiny gatherings are safer if you want to be careful. You do what is best for yourselves.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!
 

RN0441

100% better than I was but not at 100% yet
I agree. We are staying safe but I'm not going to stop living either.

We have not gotten sick so I feel we are doing something right! We all have to manage our health and exposure in our own way based on many factors.
 

BusynMember1

Well-Known Member
RN, you are younger than us. I also keep living. I just won't travel or go to restaurants. We have grandkids and want to be alive to dance at their weddings 💖 I want to assure you that if we were 50 we would probably not be this cautious. No judgment meant.

Covid is rampant here and Amy already had it. She still isn't 100 percent up to seed so has chosen to work at home.

We can all be grateful for the vaccines and the promise they hold for us all!!!

God bless everyone here.
 

RN0441

100% better than I was but not at 100% yet
No worries. We all do what we feel is best for us.

We are all in charge of our own health and I applaud everyone for living their lives as they choose during this pandemic.

Stay safe.
 

ksm

Well-Known Member
Today, my husband and I will continue to work on building a 70ft wheelchair ramp. We have been in a coastal part of TX working with a group of 6 others on finishing a house being built, and a second project of a wheelchair ramp on a modular home that is 5 feet off the ground.

We all are staying in a makeshift rv park in our own campers. We've been here for 2 weeks and have 2 more weeks to serve. We will have a Thanksgiving meal on Friday, our normal day off.

Luckily, we are living in a county that has not had widespread covid. The towns are small and spread out, and people seem compliant in wearing masks. The county has only had 398 cases for the year. We are probably safer here than at home. Our county has a 46% positivity rate of people who are tested.

Just found out my DHs daughter's boyfriend tested positive this week but so far is asymptomatic... luckily, they both are being allowed to work from home.

Ksm
 

Deni D

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass.
Staff member
Today, my husband and I will continue to work on building a 70ft wheelchair ramp.
Ksm, I think it great what you and your husband are doing. When we go south with the camper we end up helping a little at campgrounds but nothing like what you are doing in the community. You are really working it. I know it gives you a good feeling to help out and I'm sure the people you are helping are so grateful and relieved to get the help. Sounds like the best way to celebrate Thanksgiving to me.

We are having a couple more people last minute here besides us for the giant chicken pot pie today. They know what they are in for (no turkey, no trimmings) so I'm sure we will all have a good time.
 

RN0441

100% better than I was but not at 100% yet
We are volunteering at our church this Saturday. It's an event they do every year - Merry Christmas Gulf Coast. We will be giving gifts to foster children and helping foster families. All three of us have a different job. If everyone did a little something to help out others, the world would be a better place!
 
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